Should we be looking for anemia in the presence of papilloedema?
Reviewed by Lauren Hepworth

The authors present a retrospective case notes review of patients diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) presenting to a tertiary neuro-ophthalmology clinic over a 32-month period. The IIH group were age and sex matched with other patients attending the clinic with other conditions (control group). Inclusion criteria for both groups were complete blood count (CBC) within six months of initial presentation to neuro-ophthalmology. The study included 123 in the IIH group and 113 in the control group. The ophthalmic diagnoses within the control group were diverse. The threshold for diagnosis of anemia was met by 22.8% of the IIH group and 10.6% of the control group, a statistically significant difference. The mean haemoglobin in IIH group was also significantly lower than the control group. No other differences were evident within the CBC results between the two groups. This study demonstrates the higher likelihood of individuals with IIH are more likely to also have anemia. The mechanism of this potential link is unknown. There are other potential related factors which may be involved. The authors argue given the widespread availability of a CBC and its low cost that this assessment should be completed for all newly identified cases of papilloedema.

Anemia and idiopathic intracranial hypertension: a case-control study.
Sverdlichenko I, Yu CW, Margolin E.
JOURNAL OF NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGY
2023;43:63-8.